


storms will pass (but i'll always be here)

by queervampire



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Heart-to-Heart, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Star Trek Beyond, this was supposed to just be a cute thing i'm not sure what happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-08 18:39:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13464201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queervampire/pseuds/queervampire
Summary: After saving the worldagain, Leonard and Jim have a drink.





	storms will pass (but i'll always be here)

**Author's Note:**

> written for [Elijah](https://twitter.com/spacedelinquent), it's p short and not my best work but i hope you like it <3
> 
> title doesn't come from anything i just made it up rip

As someone who's helped save multiple worlds a hundred times over, Leonard knows how satisfying it feels to sit back and bask in the knowledge that - on some level - you were somebody's hero. He also knows there's way too much paperwork for that feeling to last very long.

For him, it's mostly just logging which members of the Enterprise's crew are alright and filing away the ones that aren't. He needs a lot more alcohol in his system before he can process that, and - in the ensuing chaos that is Yorktown after the whole failed massacre that was Krall's revenge plot - there's not much time to get wasted. He has too many people who need him at a hundred percent.

One of those people is Jim. Leonard knows for a fact that the kid isn't taking care of himself; he's spending his days attending pointless meetings with the admiralship and his nights doing the paperwork that's just recapping what he's already told them for the millionth time. During the few breaks he gets, he stops by the med center to check on the crew himself, making sure they're recovering and know that he's there. It's on those occasions that Leonard talks with him for a moments and barely resists the urge to not force him to just  _sleep_ with a carefully-placed hypo. The only thing that stops him is the way Jim reacts when Leonard has to say they lost someone. His mouth forms a thin line as he nods, eyes blank as he writes out the letter to their family in his head. He's had to have written more than fifty by now.

That's barely a percentage of their massive crew, but Leonard can't just relegate them to a statistic like that. They're his family, too, but he knows the pain and rage that Jim feels is heavier than Leonard's. The kid needs a second to just sit down and grieve. They all do. Still, none of them have the time, so Leonard just puts a hand on his friend's shoulder and waits for the time to come.

He waits three weeks.

* * *

An hour after his surprise "party" ended and three weeks after Krall, Jim sits on a hard stool with his chin on his hands as he watches Bones poor him his first drink of the night.

"Just so you know," says Bones, sliding glass to the other side of the island in his temporary quarters, "I have a whole pantry of this stuff, but we're also stuck here for the next _year_ , so we are pacing ourselves and _not_ getting plastered." He pauses. "Well, not yet, anyway."

Jim snorts as he reaches for his glass. "Speak for yourself." They clink their glasses together before he swallows too much too fast.

Bones just winces and walks around to sit next to him, clapping him on the back until he's done coughing. "I see you're dealing well."

Eight years ago - before his first five year mission, before he became Captain, before he became responsible for a family of hundreds of people, before he had to grow up - Jim would've just flipped him off. Instead, he's in his mid-thirties and feels like he's a good decade older. Rubbing his eyes, he asks, "How do you _do_ it, Bones?"

There's silence for a few moments. All Jim can hear is his own breathing, the gentle thrumming of the building around them, and the sound of Bones swirling his drink around. "Hell if I know," he says, finally. "If I did, I'd be living on on my own damn planet with all the money I'm made off my self-help book."

It's not that funny of a joke. Bones has made better without even _trying_. The dryness in his voice is what really affects Jim and, before he knows it, he's giggling like a little kid who just heard a dirty word. Bones tries to keep a straight face, but then he giggle-snorts, sending them both into a laughing fit that has Jim actually crying tears of laughter (and maybe a little exhaustion) by the end of it.

"Okay, but- seriously, _seriously_ ," he says, recovering. He wipes the tears from his face. "I just... This has been a month. A _shit_ month. For everyone."

"I think you've been doing pretty well, all things considered."

Jim sighs. "But now we're stuck here for a _year_ on leave and I don't know what I'm supposed to do now."

Bones doesn't say anything at first. He considers, briefly, before taking a sip and turning to fully face him. "Listen, Jim."

Jim looks at him and his very open face.

"I'm not fixin' to pretend that I've got a solution to everything," he says, carefully. "And I know that's not what you want to hear. Yeah, this month has been shitty and we've lost a lot. Nothing's gonna make that hurt any less and trust me, I've tried just about everything." He pauses.

"Well," says Jim, after a few seconds of silence, "This is a nice pep-talk."

"Shut up, I'm  _thinking_ ," mutters Bones, but he has a little quirk to the corner of his lips. "Alright. I got no way to fix this for you. Any healing you try is gonna come from you and you alone - that's something I had to figure out myself, so you're lucky to get this kind of wisdom for free - but you don't have to do that alone. You got a whole ship's worth of people to make sure of that." He reaches out to grasp Jim by the shoulder. "It seems like it's gonna last forever now, but... This storm'll pass. And till then, I'll be standing in the center of it with you. Just like always."

Jim feels his eyes get all wet once more as a lump forms in his throat. Instead of saying anything, he squeezes the hand on his shoulder before taking his glass and lifting it again.

They down the rest of their drinks at the same time. It's a nice kind of burn.

* * *

It's after their first shift that Leonard gets the message to come down to Jim's quarters. Leonard takes his time as he walks down the corridors of the newly-built Enterprise; he's not about to admit that he missed the flying deathtrap, but after a year of living in a place that he could never get over the transitory nature of, there's a certain comfort in coming back to the closest thing he's got to a home and seeing how much has either changed or stayed the same.

Jim's door slides open. As it closes behind him, Leonard doesn't see him, but then his voice calls him over from the left. Leonard doesn't even have to finish rounding the corner before he sees Jim standing by his table with two empty glasses and an unopened bottle of Kandora champagne on it. He's smiling.

"Celebrating a day back in space, Captain?" says Leonard, taking a seat.

Jim's smile turns softer. "Partly," he says. The bottle opens with a pop and he pours their drinks. Once Leonard has his glass in hand, Jim lifts up his. "To the sun after the storm." His eyes are bright.

Leonard can toast to that.

 


End file.
